Two fashion figures, Jean Campbell and Stephanie Cavalli, recently shared insights into their personal approaches to holiday dressing and wardrobe curation, revealing how travel and heritage influence their styles.

Jean Campbell, who divides her time between London and various holiday destinations, describes a clear distinction between her home and travel wardrobes. At home, her style favors modern, crisp, and structured pieces that mirror her urban lifestyle. However, while traveling, she embraces a more relaxed, bohemian aesthetic characterized by vibrant colors and eclectic prints. Campbell avoids following seasonal trends or maintaining a fixed uniform, instead choosing to dress according to her mood. Accessories play a key role in her outfits, which often feature items collected from local markets, such as slippers, pumps, beaded necklaces, scarves, and sarongs from destinations including Florence, Morocco, Romania, Italy, and Sri Lanka. Campbell highlights the importance of incorporating pieces that feel both personal and versatile, maintaining staples like a pink Knwls minidress accessorized with hats sourced from European ports and vintage eyewear, including Prada wraparound sunglasses from the 2000s and current-season Courrèges frames. She also cites the shop Doctor Vintage in Naples as a source for vintage holiday shirts, which she layers over swimsuits or shorts. These thrifted garments evoke familial memories, linking her holiday attire with her Scottish roots. Campbell’s styling philosophy draws on a blend of old, new, and found items, combining archive pieces, current trends, and market finds to craft distinctive ensembles.

Stephanie Cavalli, originally from near Rome but residing in a Pennsylvania forest after nearly 25 years in the United States, approaches her summer wardrobe as a temporal and emotional link to her Italian heritage. She spends each summer in a small town close to Ostia, relishing the region’s characteristic hot, dry climate and the soundscape of cicadas. Cavalli maintains a separate wardrobe at her Italian home composed of garments tied to significant moments and memories. Her collection includes items such as a floral minidress purchased at a flea market at age 25, striped cotton dresses from Guadeloupe linked to her maternal heritage, and a tube dress gifted by a friend, which she now views with nostalgia as she nears 50. For Cavalli, dressing in Italy is part ritual: rediscovering year-old clothing preserves continuity across time. Her packing routine also involves bringing newer pieces to blend with her established collection. As the owner of La Garçonne, a vintage and antique clothing business, she draws inspiration from 1920s and ’30s styles, an era notable for its breaking of traditional sartorial boundaries. She favors breathable fabrics such as linen and cotton, often pairing high-waisted palazzo pants with men’s shirts from the 1930s. Cavalli also values 1950s-style swimsuits that symbolize leisure and family time, encapsulating the relaxed pace of Italian summers. For her, the season represents a return to enduring style preferences and a connection to heritage.

Both Campbell and Cavalli emphasize a personalized, reflective approach to holiday fashion that moves beyond fleeting trends, focusing instead on meaningful pieces gathered through travel, memory, and a sense of place. Their narratives highlight how wardrobes can serve as a bridge between home and holiday, past and present, style and sentiment.